Fantasy Sports: Pencil-paper days weren't all that bad

When it comes to fantasy sports, I'm what the kids call old school. And when it comes to calling people "kids," I mean I'm old enough that actual kids don't find it amusing when I say it and just shake their heads.

This isn't really my fault, though. I'm in my mid-30s, which means that when I started playing fantasy baseball, it involved pencil, paper and buying Baseball Weekly as the only way to ensure we would have every West Coast box score.

This time served me well apparently, seeing as you are now reading my words. In fact, the first league I ever participated in featured commissioner Andy Hart, now the assistant editor of Patriots Football Weekly. It was like a farm league for local sports journalism.

Those pencil-and-paper years did not only mean that compiling scores was slower than the immediacy now allowed by the Internet, but the speed of any news coming out of a city other than Boston also assumed speeds more tortoise than hare.

And this may just be rosy-colored nostalgia, but that may have not been a bad thing. At least back then, there wasn't the mad rush to always be there for the next big thing and make bad roster moves to get him on your team.

To start with a mea culpa, I'll say that I have Houston's Jon Singleton on my team. You know, the guy owned in around three-quarters of ESPN leagues, when he had amassed 44 major league at-bats. He does have 4 homers, 10 RBIs and an .860 OPS, but a .250 batting average and 14 strikeouts say his ownership level is high.

Singleton, of course, is also on the same team as George Springer, who is owned in every league. And Springer is someone who didn't start the season in the majors and batted only .182 over 55 at-bats in April after he did make it to the big time.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't own Springer after he batted .294 in May with a 1.032 OPS, 10 homers and 25 RBIs, for those are numbers you do want. That complete ownership number, though, is something driven by the internet age.

It is that age that brought us the latest surge, as owners in around 95 percent of leagues decided to jump on the Pirates' Gregory Polanco when Pittsburgh called him up last week. And look, he started his career with a three-game hitting streak.

Those just happened to have come one per game, all as singles, and also were accompanied by a strikeout per game, leaving him with a .214 average. All ideas of patience were removed on Friday, though, when he went 5 for 7 with a two-run homer in the 13th inning to help the Pirates win. I am not trying to put a damper on this and throwing away all hopes for the 22-year-old, I am just not latching onto the hopes that much of the fantasy world is now hoping for.

I am not a complete Luddite, though, and must give the digital age some credit, too. Although it does fuel largely unwarranted runs on unproven rookies, it probably also helps us cut ties with veterans whose best days are behind then. How else to explain that Derek Jeter's farewell tour (.275 average, 1 homer, 14 RBIs, 22 runs, 3 steals) is occurring with owners in only 20 percent of fantasy leagues caring?

Closer thoughts

I'm always big on not investing much in closers due to their position's heavy fluidity, but the situation seems heightened this season.

Last Sunday, Baltimore brought closer Tommy Hunter off the disabled list, but not before his ownership numbers had dropped below 50 percent in ESPN fantasy leagues, making him a good pickup.

Later that night, the Tigers raised some eyebrows when they brought in Joba Chamberlain to try to close things against the Red Sox. Chamberlain gave up a homer to David Ortiz that gave Boston a win that squelched any closer controversy talks for the moment, but incumbent closer Joe Nathan still left that game with a 7.04 ERA, so it probably wasn't completely quelled.

Then on Monday, the Rays demoted Grant Balfour from his ninth-inning role. Granted, they were also the worst team in the majors at the time and made the move on the same day that manager Joe Maddon brought in a Seminole medicine man in an attempt to change the team's fortunes, so there are other forces at work.

It still helps proves my overall point, though. For further proof, Balfour was even one of the few closers to have earned all of his team's saves. No one is safe, even when getting saves.

Kicking around

I intended last week's column on World Cup soccer to be a humorous diversion, but that was apparently just my American view of the situation.

I received two emails from European readers, though, which proves how starved they are for "fantasy football" news if they came across my words.

So to help along other readers similarly yearning for more coverage, one email directed me to dreamteamfc.com, which is run by The Sun and in its best tradition provides you with news, entertainment and scantily clad women.

I was also contacted by an editor of newsofthesurge.com, who joined me in a flummoxed state over McDonald's sponsorship of a World Cup fantasy game, but was also angered by the contest's New World bias.

The website claimed that people could start picking teams on June 8, just some time zones were apparently forced to wait longer than others..

Hopefully this second batch of soccer information, though small, will keep any hooligans from being similarly angered by me.

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